Duos & Deception
by Velocity3127
Summary: Austin's career is taking off, so he decides to hire a bodyguard. His resume is amazing and when they meet him in person, he is flawless. But is he really as good as he seems? And is he putting Austin in more danger than the danger that he is protecting him from?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: this is a new multi-chap that is pretty AU! The idea was created by Sparda4, so thanks for that! I'm going to try to stay true to your idea while adding my own plot twists:) Not really sure how this is going to turn out, but I'm excited!**

 **So the plot is based around Austin's career launching and then Jimmy tells him that he needs to hire a bodyguard. That's all I'm saying for now! On with the story!**

* * *

 **Austin's POV**

Jimmy thinks that I should get a bodyguard. I get it, my career's taking off and I have tons of fans, but I could also get in danger. But I'm strong, I can take care of myself! Apparently he doesn't think so, though, so Ally and I are here in the practice room to sort through all of the applications. Who knew so many people wanted to be my bodyguard?

"Thanks for doing this with me," I say. "This is really tedious!"

"No problem," she replies. "To be honest, I want you to be safe, too! It makes me feel a whole lot better to be sorting through all of these applications with you."

"What, you don't trust me to do this myself?" I laugh.

She raises an eyebrow. "Do you really want me to answer that?"

"Never mind," I sigh, picking up the next beige folder.

"Gavin Young," she reads, and flips open the folder.

To our surprise, there are at least thirty pages in the folder. I have no interest in looking through all the pages, but Ally goes ahead and starts reading them all. She keeps nodding and smiling, so I imagine it's a pretty good resume. Finally, on the last page, is a picture of Gavin. He looks pretty young, actually, about our age. He's super buff and has about twice as much muscle as me. And that's saying a lot!

"So, what's this guy about?" I ask.

"Well, it turns out that although he's only sixteen, he has tons of experience." Ally tells me. "He's worked mostly in Orlando as security for the theme parks there, but he's also worked in California. He also has some experience in Europe, and he was going to be part of the Swiss Guard but he was too tall. He's super experienced, and he's super cute, too!"

I sigh. "Don't tell me that you want to hire him just because he's good-looking!"

"Of course not!" she replies. "It's just an added bonus! I want you to be safe, remember?"

I guess I kind of like Ally, we've dated a bit in the past but it never worked out. That doesn't stop me from wishing we could get back together, but it might endanger my career. I've repeatedly told her that she should consider her own musical career, but since she has stage fright, she just wants to be my songwriter.

"Okay, so I guess we're hiring this Gavin Young?" I ask, just to confirm.

"I guess!" she affirms.

* * *

Two days later, Gavin shows up at Sonic Boom for his interview, just so that we can make sure we're hiring the right guy. I told Ally that she didn't need to come, especially since Jimmy was coming, anyways. She came regardless. She said that it was because she wanted to meet the guy that would be in charge of protecting her best friend, but I think it's because she just has a major crush. Whatever. She can come.

"Hey, I'm looking for Austin Moon?" I hear.

I turn to face the door of the store, and I see a tall, muscular guy. He must be Gavin. His accent I can't exactly place, it sounds a bit Southern mixed with Australian with a strange tone of some Asian accent. Maybe Japanese, but that would be strange for a Florida native. Unless he went to Japan or Asia a lot, but his only overseas jobs were in Europe. I ignore it, because I just have to do this interview and find out whether he's right for the job.

"Yes, he's right here." Jimmy calls.

"Oh, hello!" Gavin says to both of us, as Ally runs up to me from the counter.

"Hi, I'm Austin!" I say.

"Nice to meet you, Austin! And who's this man? Your manager?" he asks.

"I'm Jimmy Starr," Jimmy tells him. "I'm not technically Austin's manager, but I do the job anyways. His official manager is too lazy."

I chuckle, thinking of Trish. She really doesn't do much work for us, Jimmy does more, but she definitely supports me through all of my musical adventures.

"Nice to meet you, Jimmy! And who's this pretty lady?" he asks, smiling and looking down at Ally.

She blushes and looks down to the floor, but I can see that she's smiling.

"This is Ally," I say. "She's my songwriter, and she's awesome! I could never have made it this far into my career without her."

"And she's your girlfriend, I suppose?" he asks.

"No, we're just friends! She's like a sister to me." I reply.

Well, sort of, I guess. I don't really know how to describe Ally, I just know that right now we're friends, and I'm happy. She means the world to me, and I protect her like a brother. We work together like colleagues, and I love her like an admiring partner. Well, I like her. It's not love.

"Okay, let's get on with the interview! I'm a busy guy, you know!" Jimmy interrupts, sitting down on a bench. "Please describe your previous experience as a bodyguard."

"Well, I have a lot of experience, actually. At first, I worked in California. Just as a security guard and bodyguard for moderately famous people and organizations, it wasn't really a big thing. I had to start small. Then I decided to travel to Europe, in hopes of becoming part of the Swiss Guard. Turns out you have to be 19-30 years old and shorter than me! I was only sixteen, but they told me that there were plenty of famous European businessmen who needed security. I ended up landing a job as the bodyguard for this European supermodel. It was hard, though, because she didn't speak any English! It was a good job, though. Finally, I've been working as security for the theme parks in Orlando, and I've had to deal with tons of impatient tourists!"

Not only is he polite, as he had already demonstrated when we saw him, and physically fit, as we can see, but he is also eloquent and concise.

"Why did you leave your job in Orlando?" Jimmy asks. "I've heard it's very well-paying to work at theme parks."

"I just wanted to have a new experience." he replies immediately. "Although I had to deal with angry tourists, I soon started to get bored. There was no more excitement in my job, just checking photo IDs and stopping swarms of people. I wanted to have some experience with real stars, not just dressed-up characters. And Austin was offering a job as a bodyguard, so I decided to check it out."

As he talks, I glance over at Ally and I see that she's entranced. She's looking at Gavin like I've never seen her look at anyone before, not even me. It makes me a bit jealous, but I pass it off.

I don't really pay attention to the interview after a few more questions, until Jimmy taps me and asks if I have anything to ask Gavin.

"Oh! Uh...how old are you?" I ask.

"I'm seventeen." he replies steadily.

"Seventeen! No way, so am I!" I exclaim.

At least I could make a new guy friend! Dez is great, but he's a bit crazy sometimes! It'll be nice to have a guy my age that I can be friends with. That also means that he's potential boyfriend material for Ally, but I don't really worry about that.

"And Ally, do you have anything to ask?" Jimmy asks, looking over at her.

"Uh..." she sighs dreamily, "are you single?"

"You bet!" he says, and winks.

"Okay, it was great meeting you, Gavin!" Jimmy says. "I think you're hired!"

"Thank you so much!" he exclaims, shaking Jimmy's hand. "I'll do my very best to protect your star."

"I'm confident about you." he replies. "I trust that Ally also has confidence in you?"

"Yep!" she exclaims, somewhat regaining her composure.

"You seem like a great guy, Gavin." I say. "I'm excited to be working with you!"

He laughs. "More like I'll be working for you, but that sounds cool! Thanks again!"

After shaking our hands and thanking us profusely again, Gavin leaves Sonic Boom, and Jimmy follows shortly after.

"Isn't he so cute?" Ally says dreamily.

I raise an eyebrow, and my expression must look really silly, because she bursts out laughing.

"Oh, we're such great friends!" she laughs, hugging me.

* * *

 **Author's note: Okay, that's the first chapter! I hope you liked it! Feedback is especially appreciated this time because I'm not the one who came up with the plot so I just want to know how I can develop it best (speaking of which, more plot development is coming up). And on that note, thanks again to Sparda4 for the idea of this and I hope you liked it!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: I'm back with the next chapter of Duos & Deception! Thanks again to Sparda4 for the idea, and also for your expertise in martial arts for this chapter:)**

* * *

 **Austin's POV**

"Thank you Miami!"

I love performing at concerts, the fans just get me so excited! And it just makes me so much more excited when I know that my friends are backstage cheering for me. This time, I also have Gavin! I'm not sure if he's exactly my friend, but he's cool! And I don't really care that Ally has a hopeless crush on him, I'll just accept my friends for who they are!

I run backstage immediately after my concert, and I see that Ally, Trish, Dez, Jimmy, and Gavin are there waiting for me. Ally, Trish, and Dez run up to give me hugs, and Jimmy just nods appreciatively.

"Great job, Austin!" Gavin exclaims. "You're such a good singer! I see why you're a star!"

"Thanks, Gavin!" I reply.

Jimmy walks off, probably going to do some business thing that he always has to do.

"That performance was awesome, buddy!" Dez exclaims.

"Yeah, you did so well!" Ally adds.

"Eh, you've done better." Trish says.

We all laugh. Trish can be so sarcastic! But it's one of the reasons why she's a great friend, it's hilarious!

"You guys?" Gavin interrupts worriedly.

"Yeah?" I turn to face him.

"I can hear a whole lot of yelling down the hall." he says. "Should I be worried?"

"Nah," I reply, "it happens a lot. It's always harmless."

However, Jimmy rushes back in and objects to this. "Austin, some pretty violent fans are coming along. I think they might be drunk, no one can get them to get out. They're heading this way, but everything's under control. Plus, you have Gavin."

"Are you sure everything's okay?" Ally asks worriedly.

"Don't worry, Ally." Gavin says reassuringly. "I'm here to protect you all, and I'll make sure no harm comes to any of you. Especially you."

Ally smiles sweetly and blushes. Yep, she's definitely lovestruck.

"Where's Austin Moon?" I hear a loud, rumbling voice from down the hall.

"We want Austin Moon!" a larger group of people shouts.

"That's them." Jimmy says. "Gavin, I trust you can handle them?"

He nods, and heads towards the door to wait for the gang to arrive.

"Excuse me, fellows!" I hear another voice outside. I think it's one of Jimmy's business friends. "What are you doing here? This is strictly no access for outsiders!"

I hear a thumping sound, like someone's been knocked down. Before I can say anything, the door is crashed open and this tall man runs in. I see that he doesn't have anyone with him, he's just by himself. The other people with him must have left. The man starts running towards me, but he's stopped by Gavin. Good thing I hired a bodyguard! Gavin immediately knocks the man down, but instead of staying down, the man gets right up.

"I want to get to Austin!" he yells.

Instead of saying anything, Gavin does a flying kick and knocks him down in one blow.

"Was that karate?" I whisper.

"Probably," Trish says.

"It appeared to be Combat Sambo." Dez whispers back. "It is a Russian mixed martial arts technique, used and developed for the military. It is highly unusual that an ordinary American bodyguard would be so highly trained, unless he trained in the Russian army."

I just stare at my red-headed friend. Some people think he's quite stupid, but I know otherwise. He's the smartest person I know, except maybe Ally.

"So why does he know this combat mambo?" I ask, as I watch him repeatedly punch and hit the man that he's already knocked down.

"Not mambo, Sambo." Dez replies. "Maybe when he went to Europe, he also went to Russia? It's possible."

Ally speaks up for the first time since the man barged in. "Don't you guys find it strange that Gavin's beating up the guy that he's already knocked down?"

We watch in silence as Gavin continues to punch the guy, until a security guard comes in and drags the unconscious man away.

"Well, I took care of him." Gavin says, shooting us a smile.

Before we know it, he's out the door for the day, and even though I rushed to the door to say one last word, I couldn't see him down the hallway.

* * *

 _Breaking news! Austin Moon's new bodyguard sends a man to the hospital with critical injuries!_

It's the headline of all of the Miami newspapers. Gavin is suddenly more violent than he had appeared to be at first, and no one's happy. I'm disappointed that I hired this excessively violent bodyguard. I've never believed in violence, and I prefer to work out conflicts in other ways. Jimmy's already trying to hire a new bodyguard, and Trish is trying to find Gavin to fire him. At least the one who gets fired so often is doing the firing. Dez is researching that combat mambo thing, to find out more about it. And I haven't seen Ally since last night.

I go to Sonic Boom, but she's not there. I look at the new instruments that are in stock, and then I hear my name.

"Austin!"

I would recognize that voice anywhere. It's Ally!

"Hey, Ally!" I run up to her.

"Have you seen the news?" she asks.

"Yeah, of course! I'm kind of disappointed, honestly. Trish is trying to fire him. I hope you're okay with it." I say, knowing that she's probably heartbroken.

"I can't believe him!" she exclaimed, more angry than disappointed. "I can't believe I ever had a crush on him! I hate people who like violence, there are better ways of solving things, for crying out loud!"

I'm taken aback from her strong words. My usually meek friend who's shy and has stage fright has completely just transformed into this spiteful girl, and I'm impressed!

Suddenly, Trish runs in.

"I found Gavin! He's in this martial arts training place. But I can't get to him, there's tons of security and I'm pretty sure everyone there does his Combat Sambo thing!" she exclaims.

"Let's go there and give him a piece of our minds." Ally says, heading towards the door.

"Okay, I'll text Dez to meet us there!" I suggest.

I pull out my phone, and to my surprise, Dez has already texted me.

 _Hey Austin I got into Gavin's training place and I'm watching him you better come and see this_

"Dez says he's already in there and watching Gavin train!" I tell my friends. "Let's go!"

It only takes a couple of minutes to walk to Gavin's training place, because it's actually in the Miami Mall, just on the other side! I can't believe I've never seen it, but I guess I really only go to the places on Sonic Boom's side of the mall.

"What do you kids want?" a security guard says, as we walk towards the front desk.

"Well, we're looking for Gavin Young." I say.

"Or Dez Wade," Ally adds.

"Gavin Young is busy and he doesn't want visitors." the man behind the front desk offers. "And I don't know who this Dez Wade character is."

I pull out my phone to text Dez.

 _How did you get in?_

I get an immediate reply.

 _I climbed through an air duct!_

 _?_

 _Yeah there's one right at the front desk!_

 _And no one saw you?_

 _No I don't think so_

"Dez crawled through that air duct," I whisper to Ally, pointing at the air duct right at the desk.

"How did he do that?" she whispers back.

"Oh, we actually just got a message from Gavin!" the front desk man says. "He says that if Austin Moon and his friends are looking for him, they can go find him in room 250."

"That's us! Austin Moon and friends!" Ally exclaims.

"Photo ID!" the security guard shouts.

I fumble in my wallet but I find my driver's license, and they let us in.

We run for room 250 to find Gavin and Dez. When we arrive there, we see Gavin hitting this wooden statue thing, and Dez is watching attentively.

"What the-" Trish exclaims, but fortunately Gavin doesn't hear.

As Gavin is too busy hitting the statue thing and he's too occupied with the thumping sounds of every blow, Dez decides to fill us in on what he's doing.

"Wing Chun," he explains, "is a Chinese martial art that specializes in close-range combat. Strange that he is so skilled in it, although he never mentioned being in Asia."

"Well, his accent seems a bit Japanese to me." I suggest.

"What's the wooden statue thing?" Trish asks.

"That's called Mu ren zhuang," Dez explains. "In Cantonese it is called Muk yan jong. It's a wooden dummy that is used to practice Wing Chun."

"It's suspicious how Gavin's already shown that he knows two completely different types of martial arts from two places that he's never been." I say.

"It's also suspicious how Dez knows so much about this stuff!" Trish whisper-yells. "Where did you learn all of this?"

"It's called paying attention in class!" he defends himself. "Do you guys never pay attention?"

"We never learned about martial arts!" Ally says, confused.

"You mean you guys never took international martial arts history?" Dez asks, shocked.

We all slowly shake our heads.

Before Dez can say anything about our bad taste in school courses, Gavin notices us.

"Hey guys!" he exclaims. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, we were just here to talk to you." I say. "About last night."

"What about last night?" he asks.

"Gavin, you're not supposed to attack fans, you're just supposed to keep them away!" Ally exclaims, obviously disappointed.

"Aw, Ally, I was just trying to protect you guys!" he replies.

"By beating up another person? You know he's in the hospital!" Trish shouts.

Soon Ally, Trish, and I are yelling to him, and he's trying to defend himself. I guess we're all disappointed and more than a little angry. Then Dez speaks up.

"Gavin, we are very disappointed in you." he says quietly, but professionally. "You were never meant to harm another being in order to protect Austin, your job was to merely control the situation."

We all look at him in surprise. Dez can be crazy sometimes, but he can also be the most professional out of all of us.

"Dez is right." Ally agrees. "And even though you disappointed us last night, I think we're willing to give you a second chance. But only if you agree to be assertive and not aggressive."

Gavin nods. "I'll try my best."

"Well, I think that's all we had to say, you can keep training if you want." I say.

Everyone nods, and we walk out of the room as Gavin resumes his Wing Chun training.

"We should probably keep a close eye on him." Trish says once we leave the training center.

"Yeah, we don't want him to hurt any other fans." I reply. "I can't have that kind of publicity!"

Ally rolls her eyes. "Don't worry about publicity, Austin. Everyone loves you, they just might not love Gavin."

As we pass through the food court, we see Jimmy, and he immediately runs up to us.

"Austin, we need to talk to Gavin! He's too dangerous, you can't have him as a bodyguard!" he exclaims.

"Relax, Jimmy." I reply. "We already talked to him, we told him that he can't just attack people. We gave him a second chance to prove himself."

"A second chance? No, Austin, he's too dangerous!" he replies.

"Jimmy, it's okay. We have security guards, too, and we know that if anything goes wrong with Gavin, they can help out. Austin's not in danger." Ally reassures him.

"Fine, but just one more chance. And we're going to look into his past, too. Just to make sure." Jimmy finally says.

We all nod, and then we head back to Sonic Boom.

* * *

"Gavin Young..." Dez murmurs as he looks at his computer.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

We were supposed to help Ally run the store, but Dez and Trish decided to take a break and sit at the grand piano.

"We're looking into Gavin, to see if he's really who he says he is." Trish replies.

"Oh, look! This says Gavin Young, seventeen years old, worked at Walt Disney World in Orlando! I love Disney World!" Dez exclaims.

"Well, so far so good!" I say.

"It says that he also worked at some other theme parks in Orlando for a few months, and he was a very good security guard." he continues.

"What about the stuff that he said about working in Europe?" Trish asks.

"This website is called Florida employees. Do you really think it'll talk about Europe?" Dez sighs.

Even though Trish and Dez are working together to find out stuff about Gavin, they always argue! It's kind of their thing. It's really funny, actually!

"Guys, what are you doing?" Ally calls.

"Looking up stuff about Gavin!" Dez replies. "Wanna see? There are some pretty good pictures of him! I know you have a crush on him!"

She laughs. "Not anymore. I don't like guys who are aggressive. Violence doesn't solve anything! Plus, I only had a crush on him because he's good-looking. But he's not really my type. He's not a musician, he's a bodyguard! And he's always trying to be super flirty around me. It's annoying, not charming!"

Well, I'm not aggressive, I'm a musician, and I'm definitely not super flirty! And I'm single, too! Now, how can I give Ally hints without being flirty?

"And who needs to know two types of martial arts, anyways?" she interrupts my thoughts.

"Actually, three." Trish offers. "This website says he's a national kickboxing champion!"

"Seriously? When did he have time in his career to do that, anyways?" I say.

"That's strange." Dez suddenly says.

"What's strange?" I ask.

"It says here that Gavin was part of the Swiss Guard a couple of years ago. But didn't he say that he was too young and too tall for last year?"

"Maybe it's a false website," Trish suggests.

"Yeah, there are a lot of those online." Ally agrees.

"Okay, probably!" Dez says, moving on to the next website.

But even as he does that, I get an uncomfortable feeling. It doesn't make sense, and it makes me suspicious.

* * *

 **Author's note: That's it for now! It'll probably be a while until the next chapter but who knows, maybe I'll write it quickly and update.**

 **I hope you like it so far! Feedback is appreciated:)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: I'm back with another chapter! Sorry it took a while, I usually try to update quickly but I had a lot of stuff going on. Thanks again to Sparda4 for the idea and also your expertise in Japanese sword stuff (maybe I should just write the thing that you're an expert in before every chapter)! This chapter is a little different because it focuses more on Ally's perspective, but I like it. I hope you do too!**

 **P.S. I am aware that not that many people are reading this, but I'm going to keep writing for a) Sparda4 and b) myself, because this is really fun! :)**

* * *

 **Ally's POV**

Team Austin has been really focused with the whole Gavin issue these couple of days. It's been three days since the concert where he attacked the fan. The fan's okay, he's being released from the hospital tomorrow. But it definitely got Austin some bad publicity, but he has another concert that's about to start. Jimmy decided that Austin is doing a month of concerts in Miami, and then we can think about a national tour. Trish has actually been working really hard for a while, Dez has been really supportive of everyone when we're tired and feeling down, and he's super helpful with planning, too. Obviously, I've been busy writing songs, but lately, I've been worried not about Austin, but about Gavin.

I had a crush on him at first. I don't think I've ever fallen for someone that fast before, not even Dallas. But I soon realized that Gavin wasn't really my type of guy, he's kind of aggressive and overall just really flirty with me. We told him that he should be more assertive and less aggressive, and we'll see what happens during this concert.

"Ally!" I hear someone exclaim, stopping my train of thought.

It's Trish, and she's signaling that Austin's about to start performing. I run to the wings, right behind the curtains so that no one can see me. I have awful stage fright; I would freak out if I saw the crowd out there. But I know Austin loves it.

"Hello Miami!" he announces on stage.

He's greeted by thunderous applause and cheering.

"Tonight I will be performing two of my newest songs, Illusion and A Billion Hits!" he continues. "I hope everybody likes it!"

As the music starts, I can't help but watch him in awe. He's so confident on stage, and he's not nervous at all! I could never do that!

"Hey, Ally!" I hear from behind me.

I know it's Gavin even before I turn around because of that accent.

"Hey, Gavin, how's it going?"

"It's going fine, no crazy fans tonight, I guess!" he laughs. "And don't worry, Ally, I remember what you told me. Assertive, not aggressive."

I nod and smile before turning my attention back to Austin on stage. Trish and Dez are cheering, like the fans out in the crowd. When I look at Austin, I see this look on his face that I don't usually see. Usually, when he's performing, he looks super happy and relaxed, but also super excited at the same time. He told me that big crowds get him excited, which I don't really understand, but we're kind of different! But today, I see a slightly different expression. It's so subtle, no one would notice except for anyone who's as close to him as me. There's a hint of sadness and worry in his expression, but it's masked by his smile and energetic demeanor.

After a few moments, he turns his head to see me watching him, and he smiles again. There's no more sadness in his expression, just the usual happy Austin. I smile, too.

I watch the rest of his show with a smile on my face. There's always been this charm to Austin that's always made me feel so happy to be his friend, and I wouldn't trade him for the world. Seeing his smile always brightens my day, hearing his voice cheers me up no matter what, and just being with him makes me so happy. Okay, I might have a little crush on him, but I'm sure he doesn't like me that way. We dated for a bit before, but then we broke up because we decided that we just wanted to be friends. I guess things have changed a bit, but that's okay.

"Hey, Ally!" his voice snaps me out of my thoughts.

"Great job, Austin!" I exclaim, hugging him.

"You did amazing, bro!" Dez exclaims, joining the hug.

"Yeah, that was better than your last concert." Trish says.

We all laugh.

"Hey guys, is it normal that I hear voices in the hall again?" Gavin asks.

"Yeah, normally there are people out there. Usually Jimmy and his guys, but sometimes fans too. It's fine, don't worry about it." Austin replies.

To confirm his statement, Jimmy walks in with a couple of other people dressed in suits.

"Austin, I need to have a meeting with you and Trish tonight. Meet me in the meeting room in around a half hour. Also, Gavin, you can go home for the night after all of the fans leave." Jimmy says.

"Okay," we all say, and then Jimmy leaves.

"Hey, do you guys know where Austin Moon is?" a high-pitched voice says in the hallway, presumably talking to Jimmy and his guys.

"Why do you want to know?" one of the business people asks.

"I'm a huge fan!" the girl replies. "I really want to meet him!"

"I'm sorry, but Austin is currently busy. Maybe you'll meet him at his next CD signing." Jimmy says sternly but not angrily.

"Oh, okay!" she says, probably skipping down the hallway to leave.

"Are there usually a lot of fans who want to meet you, Austin?" Gavin asks.

"Well, sometimes there'll be tons of people who want to get in! Other times, I could walk home and no one would notice me, even if not everyone's left yet!" Austin replies.

Dez opens his mouth to say something, and then the door is practically crashed open.

"Is Austin Moon in here?" a blonde girl asks energetically. It's the high-pitched voice we heard in the hallway. "Whoa! It's Austin!"

She starts running towards us, but Gavin blocks her path.

"I'm sorry, young lady, but I'm afraid this is strictly no-entry." he says professionally. "I would ask you to please leave. You can meet Austin at one of his CD signings."

"But I want to see him!" she persists, jumping up and down to try and look around Gavin's enormous figure.

"You can see him on posters and in pictures, and you can see him in concerts. But security does not allow for you to get through. Technically, you aren't even supposed to be inside this door."

He starts slowly walking forward, forcing the girl to walk backwards towards the door. She starts to punch at Gavin, but he shows no signs of being affected. He doesn't even attack her back, but he simply lets another security guard take her and escort her down the hallway. Eventually, we no longer hear any high-pitched screeching.

"Great job, Gavin!" Austin exclaims. "That's weird having two intruders in two concerts. This stuff rarely happens! But you did a great job handling that girl."

We all nod to signal our agreement.

"I think you can go home, Gavin." Trish says. "I mean, there isn't anyone left here, so you deserve to have a good night at home."

"Thanks so much, everyone!" he replies, and walks out the door.

"That was cool, Gavin totally changed!" Dez exclaims once he's left. "I think we were right in giving him a second chance."

"I still don't trust that guy!" Trish objects. "I think we should still be wary around him. Who knows, he could totally betray us!"

"I agree with Trish," I say, "even though he was good today doesn't mean he'll be good tomorrow, or the next day, or next week. Don't put too much trust in a person who's already disappointed you."

"Fine, if you guys don't believe in him, maybe you should spy on him!" Dez suggests, probably sarcastically.

"Well, it's not a bad idea!" I reply. "You know what, I'll see if I can still catch up to him, and I'll try to figure out where he lives, and maybe I'll learn something about him."

"But Ally, that could be dangerous! If you don't trust him, why would you follow him to his house in the middle of the night?" Austin exclaims, wrapping an arm around me protectively.

"I know!" Dez exclaims, holding up his camera. "We can attach this camera to Ally, and we can connect it to Skype. That way, she can broadcast everything that she sees to us. If anything happens to her, we'll know where she is."

"Austin and I have a meeting with Jimmy so we can't stay up to date on your whereabouts." Trish says. "Do you trust Dez in taking that responsibility?"

"Yeah, I do." I reply, surprising her. "I can trust you, Dez. And it's not like anything's going to happen to me, but just in case."

* * *

Twenty minutes later, I find myself walking down some street I've never seen before, in the middle of the night. My dad doesn't know where I am, although I don't think he'll worry much. He never knows where I am, but this time, only Dez does. And it's because I'm following Gavin. Where's he going? I assume to his house, but who knows?

I feel a bit uncomfortable and uncertain, but not in danger. Although Gavin's had a few aggressive encounters, that doesn't mean that he's necessarily a bad person. I'm simply trying to find out more about him, and the only way to do that is apparently to follow him home. Plus, I have Dez's camera, so he's seeing everything I'm seeing. Even if he's sometimes silly, I know that he always stays by our sides and he wouldn't let us down if anything went really wrong.

As I watch Gavin several feet in front of me, passing what seems to be the thousandth street light, I finally see him turn to a house, which I assume to be his. He walks in through the front door, so I hide in one of the bushes near a window. After a few moments, I see him enter the room with the window that I can see through. Everything looks normal, so I wait patiently and try to look inside the room that he's in. That's when I see something strange on the wall at the back of the room.

Hanging on the wall are two long swords, one longer than the other. Instead of running away, I keep watching. The swords look like Japanese swords, which supports Austin's theory about his accent that sounds Japanese. The swords look vaguely familiar, but I can't place it. I decide to text Dez to see if he knows.

 _Dez, what are those swords?_

He replies immediately.

 _They're a Daisho pair, basically two matching Japanese samurai swords: katana and wakzashi_

 _Why would he have swords?_

 _Who knows maybe he's a samurai_

I put away my phone. This is definitely out of the ordinary, but not dangerous. It might be unusual that someone has Japanese samurai swords in their house, but that doesn't mean that they are a Japanese samurai. I mean, Dez collects random things, maybe Gavin collects swords.

I peek through the window again. He picks up his phone, because it's ringing. I see that he puts it on speaker, and then he puts it on the table in front of him and sits in a comfy-looking armchair. I decide to eavesdrop on this phone call.

"Gavin Young," a deep voice on the other end rumbles. I can't place the accent but it sounds a little familiar.

"Hello, Sergei." Gavin replies. Sergei. So it's Russian.

"How is life in America? Surely you regret leaving Russia." Sergei says scornfully.

Gavin was in Russia? He lived in Russia? He never told us anything about this. I hear him sigh.

"Sergei, I've already told you, Russia is not my homeland. I went there to train with you, and I am eternally grateful for that, but my heart rests in Japan." he says.

Gavin is from Japan? Not a surprise, considering his accent and his swords, but still a surprise to hear from him. He continues to speak.

"Life in America is pretty good, you know that I've landed a few good jobs."

"Yes, I know." Sergei replies. "Including your current job, being the bodyguard of that pop star Austin Moon. Did you know that he is now famous in Russia? It's crazy. All of the teenagers here sing his songs."

"That's interesting, I didn't know that-"

"But how many times have I told you that Sambo is only to be used for defense purposes?" Sergei interrupts. "Yet you still attacked some crazed fan. I don't care about the man, for sure, I've heard that he's already out of the hospital. You must learn to respect the art of martial arts! You treat Russian martial arts like your everyday attack methods. There is an art to martial arts, you should not be simply attacking people! Have you not listened to anything I've taught you?"

"I'm sorry, Sergei." Gavin replies. "But may I ask, how did you find out about it?"

"I have my ways, young Gavin." he says simply.

"I've told you multiple times, my name is Gavin Young! Not Young Gavin!"

"Yes, but you are _young_ and inexperienced. That is why you are _young_ Gavin."

I almost laugh out loud at this, but I know better. I'm dead meat if Gavin finds me. I decide to text Dez.

 _Do you think I should get out of here?_

 _No, stay for a bit longer and see what you can find out. You're not in real danger, unless Gavin decides to go outside and look in his bushes._

I put away my phone again. I see that Gavin's put away his, too, so his call with Sergei must be over. He pulls out his laptop, and it's turned at just the right angle so that I can see it. Perfect. He pulls up his email and opens his inbox. I can see that he has a new email, and he clicks on it, and after reading it, he clicks reply. The email is in Japanese, but he begins typing in English:

 _Good idea. I agree with all your plans, especially the first one. I have already secured the trust of Austin Moon and his friends, after the first unfortunate mishap. I have not told Sergei about any of your plans. He doesn't know anything._

Then he clicks "send". What is going on? Who is he emailing? And what are his plans, and why does he need our trust?

* * *

 **Author's note: I hope you liked it! Sorry for taking so long to update, I know some people update way slower, but I like to update regularly. Unfortunately, the next chapter might take a while, as well, because I have a ton of exams and a really big economics project coming up.**

 **As always, feedback is appreciated!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note: here is the next chapter! It's less about Gavin this time, more about Auslly :) I hope you like it!**

* * *

 **Austin's POV**

"And then I was about to leave and go back home, when he walked out to his front yard with the swords!" Ally tells us.

We decided to meet in Sonic Boom so that she could tell us everything, and now she's explaining what she saw last night while spying on Gavin at his house.

"So I couldn't leave, or else he would see me! And who knows what he would do to me? He had the swords!" she continues. "I had no choice but to stay in the bush that I was hiding in, and that was when I noticed that there was a strange bamboo plant right in the middle of his yard. Who has bamboo in Miami, anyways? Before I could think about it, he walked up to the bamboo plant and slashed at it twice, once with each sword, and chopped it clean down!"

"What did you do then?" I ask.

"Well, he walked back into his house, so I left and went home." she replies. "That was it."

"I saw everything," Dez adds, "it was pretty suspicious. I say we should fire him immediately."

"But don't we want to find out the truth about him?" Trish counters. "Let's not fire him yet, we'll wait until we can find enough evidence to arrest him!"

"Arrest him for what? Chopping down a bamboo plant in his front yard?" Dez exclaims.

"No!" Trish exclaims. "For purposely sending an Austin Moon fan to the hospital!"

"Guys, stop arguing!" I interrupt. "You know what, let's do a vote. Who wants to fire him?"

Only Dez raises his hand.

"Alright, so everyone else wants to keep him to investigate?" I ask.

Trish and Ally nod.

"Fine, we don't have to fire him." Dez says. "But we should be very careful. We already know that he knows pretty much every martial art out there and he owns swords and can use them pretty well."

I look over at Ally, and she's on her phone.

"What are you doing?" I ask, leaning over to see what she's doing.

"I'm looking up Gavin online to see if I can find anything about him," she explains, "but it's only the stuff that we've already found. Kind of weird, considering he's already proven to have such a famous past in martial arts."

"Guys, don't you think we've been spending way too much time investigating Gavin these days?" Dez interrupts. "I mean, he's practically taking over our lives!"

"Yeah," Trish continues, "and Austin needs new songs! You guys have to write new songs, or else Jimmy's going to get kind of annoyed! He already said yesterday that he expects three new songs in the next couple of weeks!"

"Okay, I guess we can go work on new songs." Ally says. "Is that okay, Austin?"

"That would be great!"

* * *

Ten minutes later, we're in the practice room trying to come up with new ideas for a song. Ally's the songwriter, but I help her with ideas, too. We haven't written any new songs in a while, so this is fun! Plus, I get to spend time with Ally!

"So, do you have any ideas for a new song?" she asks.

"Maybe we could try a love song," I suggest, "we haven't really done any of those before. But not too sentimental and mushy. I still want it to be upbeat and happy!"

Okay, maybe not so subtle with the love song thing. Whatever. I look over at Ally.

"So, what do you think?"

"O-okay," she stutters, and turns to the piano. "Uh...what do you want it to be about?"

"Well," I reply, "if I'm going to sing it, it should probably be about a girl."

She giggles. "Okay, that makes sense. What kind of girl?"

"Maybe a girl I like?" I suggest.

"What girls do you like?" she asks.

"Well...I really only have one in mind." I reply.

"Okay...and who would that be? Cassidy? Kira? Piper?" she asks, naming my ex-girlfriends.

"Not exactly..." I say.

I can't _exactly_ tell her the girl I like...I mean, it's her, so I guess I'm just going to have to be vague. We can still come up with a vague song.

"So who is it?"

"Well...she's sweet, she's kind, she's my favorite person in the whole wide world!" I explain.

"Okay...do you have any ideas for lyrics?"

* * *

Twenty minutes later, we have a new song! It was pretty awkward trying to write a song _about_ the person you're writing it _with_ , but hey, it was fun!

"Here, take your guitar!" Ally says, handing it to me. "Let's try this song out!"

I stand up and start strumming the opening chords.

"You're a good girl, the perfect picture of an angel's smile from a magazine." I sing. "But it's a new world, and I know something, the side of you no one's ever seen! Hey now baby, no doubt about it, girl you drive me crazy. I'm pleading guilty to the way you make me wanna steal your heart, steal your heart! Call me criminal, I won't deny you make me want it all, everything you are. So lock it up, go on and try it. No matter what you do I'm gonna steal your heart!"

"That was great!" Ally exclaims.

"I couldn't have done it without you!" I reply, giving her a hug.

"I'm sure your girl will love it!" she says.

"Well, do you like it?" I ask.

"Of course! I love it!" she replies.

"Then my girl will love it too." I smile.

"Oh! Is she a lot like me?" she asks.

I nod. "You're practically the same person."

"Do I know her?" she asks, looking more confused now.

"Yep, I'm pretty sure you do!" I resist the urge to laugh.

She looks even more confused now. I can tell she's deep in thought, but she has no idea that the song's about her!

"I don't know, Austin! Can you tell me who it's about?" she finally says.

I shake my head. "I want you to figure it out! You're smart, you'll figure it out soon enough."

Well, this is kind of a gamble. If she actually figures it out, but she doesn't like me back, then I'm in a bit of trouble. This could make our partnership, and friendship, really awkward. But if she _does_ like me, then this will be awesome!

"Austin!" she whines. "Why won't you tell me?"

"Trust me, Ally, you'll figure it out." I reply.

She huffs and goes back to thinking. I can tell when she's thinking, she's has this look on her face that I can't really describe, but it's really cute!

"She's a lot like me, I know her..." she mutters.

"You don't have to think very hard to figure this out, Ally!" I say. "Remember, you know her very well. Maybe better than you know anyone else on the planet."

"I'm not a lot like Trish!" she exclaims. "You like _Trish_?"

I laugh. "No! I mean, I like her as a friend, she's one of my closest friends, but the song's definitely not about her!"

"I don't know any other girls very well, though!" she says. "You, Trish, and Dez are my closest friends! And you wouldn't write a song about yourself, and Dez isn't a girl!"

"Okay, it's not about Dez!" I laugh.

"And it's not about Cassidy, Kira, or Piper?" she asks, eyes narrowing.

"Nope! Trust me, Ally, you know her _super_ well." I say with a smile.

"Can you give me a hint, at least? Please?"

"Okay," I reply, "she likes music. She's one of my best friends, and she's super smart."

"But that's impossible!" she exclaims. "Because that's me!- oh! Oh, Austin, it's me!"

Her confused expression quickly turns into that smile that I know and love.

"Wait..." she says softly. "You made me write that song...about myself? And I didn't even know it!"

"Yeah," I say. "So...um, just to make sure, is that okay? I mean..."

"Austin..." she whispers. "I had _no idea_ that you still liked me..."

"I'm sorry, I-"

She cuts me off by flinging her arms around me in a hug. I'm surprised and relieved, because I take this to mean that she likes me back, and she's not mad at me or anything.

"Austin, I like you too, but how are we going to make this work out?" she says once she stops hugging me. "I mean, the last time we tried to be a couple, it was a disaster!"

"Well...maybe we don't have to try." I say. "We can just be ourselves, we know each other so well already! And whatever happens, you know we'll always be friends."

She nods. "Always."

Suddenly, the mood in the room shifts to something new. I can feel it, I think Ally can, too. I walk up closer to her, lean in, and...

"Guys, open up!" Trish yells, banging on the door.

I jump back, startled, and Ally blushes. I walk to the door and open it, and Trish and Dez are there.

"Hey guys, what are you doing?" I ask.

"We found some stuff about Gavin." Dez says.

I groan. "Not him again! I thought we were going to forget about him for a little while!"

"Well, like it or not, he's a part of your life, and a problematic one, too." Trish says.

"What is it?" Ally asks, walking up to me. She takes my hand in hers, and I smile.

"So you said that there was a Russian guy that was talking to Gavin." Dez says. "And then there was a Japanese guy that he was emailing. And Gavin and the Japanese guy were keeping a secret from the Russian guy."

Ally nods.

"Well, there's some news about a Japanese guy who ran off to Russia a couple of years ago." he continues. "A guy named Kenji, not Gavin, but his last name was Young. Not a super common Japanese last name or anything, but then again, Gavin doesn't _look_ Japanese."

"Well, it could just be a coincidence." I say.

"Yeah, but a guy who left Japan for Russia? And his last name is Young. I don't think it's a coincidence." Trish objects.

"Well, why don't we look into this Kenji Young?" Ally suggests.

Dez shakes his head. "I couldn't find anything at all. It seems that Kenji Young doesn't exist online, except for that one article that I found."

"It could be fake," I say.

"It was one of the biggest newspapers of Japan. I don't think it was fake." Dez replies.

"Well, we'll just have to do some more investigation." Ally says. "Sergei doesn't seem to know much about what Gavin's up to, with the weird Japanese email and everything. Maybe we can figure out who he is, and then we can talk to him."

"Okay, I'll look him up online." Dez says, pulling out his computer.

He types in a few things, then shakes his head.

"There are tons of Russian Sergeis that have to do with martial arts. We're not going to find him."

"Try 'Sergei Russia martial arts Gavin Young'," Trish suggests.

Dez types that into his computer, and his face lights up.

"I found tons of stuff! Look! Sergei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky! Expert in Sambo and he works in the military! And he taught Gavin Young!" he exclaims.

Ally's face lights up. "Nikolayevich Bolkonsky! That's like Andrei in _War and Peace_! I love that book!"

"Sergei is named after a character in _War and Peace_?" Trish exclaims.

"Well, he does work in the military." I suggest. "And it's _War and Peace_ , so maybe there's a connection?"

"Dez, can you find his phone number or email or anything?" Ally asks.

"Yeah," he replies, "his contact info is right here. Maybe we can email him!"

We all crowd around the computer as Ally types. She always writes important emails because she takes advanced English and composition classes at school, so she's the best at this stuff.

 _To: Sergei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky_

 _From: Austin Moon_

 _General Bolkonsky:_

 _The team behind Austin Moon's career is contacting you to inquire about his new bodyguard, Gavin Young. We understand that he learned and trained with you in Russia, and you trained him to be quite competent at Sambo. He has recently demonstrated this skill on unsuspecting passerby. Could you possibly explain his motives? What was he like in the military? Any information is appreciated._

 _Sincerely,  
Austin Moon_

To my surprise, we get an almost-immediate reply.

 _To: Austin Moon_

 _From: Sergei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky_

 _Thank you for contacting me. I was about to do the same. Gavin Young was one of my best students, but he was unruly. Sambo is meant for defense purposes only, and I have told him this many times. He does not respect the art of martial arts. He is ruthless. Although he is successful in Russian martial arts, he has told me that his heart is in Japan. I suspect that there is much that he has not told me. Please take caution when you are around him. I worry for your safety._

 _Sincerely,  
Sergei_

"Sergei doesn't trust Gavin," Dez says, when we've all finished reading the email.

"I think he could be our ally." I finish his thought.

* * *

 **Author's note: dun dun dun! So that took another turn, I thought there should at least be something about Gavin instead of just Auslly the whole time. More of that is coming up. By the way, _War and Peace_ is an awesome book.**

 **I hope you liked this chapter! Sorry for the slow update, unfortunately I have two weeks of exams coming up so the next couple of updates are probably going to take a while:(**

 **I have a new oneshot written, though, so that should probably be going up soon.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note: So sorry for the slow updates:( I have so many exams going on and final projects on top of that... I hope you like this chapter, though! It's kind of an extension on Chapter 3, in Ally's perspective!**

 **P.S. It comes up in this chapter, but Hiro and Koko Takoyaki are _not_ owned by me! They're characters in a book called _Neil Flambe and the Tokyo Treasure_ , which is a cool book!**

* * *

 **Ally's POV**

"That was an awesome performance!" I exclaim, planting a kiss on Austin's cheek.

He just finished his fifth concert of the month! I'm so proud of him! Gavin hasn't been causing any problems, either, so I think everything's going okay. However, we couldn't really find any information about him, even though we didn't fire him. Sergei told us to be careful, though, so we will be.

"Hey guys!" Gavin calls. "Is it okay if I leave for the day? Or should I stay a bit longer? I think most of the fans are gone already."

"You can go," Austin replies, "as long as the fans are gone, we should be fine. Even if the fans are still here, we should be fine."

Gavin nods and walks out the door.

"Guys!" Dez whisper-yells. "We should do more investigating. How about we send Ally off to investigate again?"

"No way!" Austin exclaims, putting his arm around my shoulder. "That's way too dangerous, especially since Sergei told us to be careful."

"Austin, I'm going to be fine." I say. "I think I should go. We need to find out more about him, anyways. Maybe I'll catch him emailing the Japanese guy."

"You mean you're going?" Trish asks incredulously.

"Fine, then I'm going with you." Austin says.

I'm about to agree, but Jimmy walks in.

"Austin, I need to talk to you about recording times. We need to record that new song that you sent me, 'Steal Your Heart'." he announces.

"Okay," he replies, and walks away reluctantly.

"So I guess I'm going on my own." I say.

Trish and Dez just nod.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, I'm walking down Gavin's street again. I'm known for my great sense of direction, so I don't even need to follow him. I just remember where to go. When I arrive at his house, I'm about to go hide in the bush that I saw before, when I see him. He's sitting in a chair on his porch, drinking tea, and he's looking right at me. I'm about to walk away, hoping that he doesn't figure out what I'm doing.

"Ally, do you want some green tea?" he calls.

"I...okay," I agree, knowing that this might be a chance to investigate.

"What brings you to these parts of Miami?" he asks.

"I...uh...I was just walking home." I stammer.

"I saw you here last week." he says, taking me by surprise.

"What?"

"You were here last week, after one of Austin's concerts." he repeats.

"I...how do you know that?" I manage.

"I saw you. It's okay, I know you like me." he says.

 _No, not anymore,_ I think.

"Yeah...okay, I do." I say instead, trying to figure out a way to find out stuff about him. I guess if he thinks I like him, he'll tell me more about him. "So...uh, why do you have Japanese green tea?"

I have no idea what to say, but I might as well try to steer the conversation towards Japan. He smiles.

"I'm from Japan, did you know that?" he says simply.

"I thought you were from California!" I exclaim, pretending not to know. "You don't...uh, _look_ Japanese?"

"Well, I dyed my hair, and I got some face work done, and now I pass as an ordinary American." he replies. "My real name, though, isn't Gavin. My name is Kenji Young."

I already knew that, but I'm pleasantly surprised to see how much he's already telling me.

"Wait...if you're Japanese, how do you know Russian martial arts?" I ask, already knowing the answer.

"I went to train in the Russian military for a little bit of time." he replies. "I was trained by a very important Russian general, his name is General Bolkonsky."

He winks.

"Oh, like Andrei in _War and Peace_!" I giggle, pretending that this is all new information.

"I've never read that book, but seeing as you're so smart, I'm assuming you have." he says, half-smiling.

He's trying to flirt with me and miserably failing. But I play along with it. I giggle again.

"So, what did you do in Japan?" I ask.

He frowns. "Can you keep a secret?"

My heart is beating a mile a minute, and not in a good way. "Of course, you can trust me." I say anyways, trying to play the lovesick girl.

"Are you familiar with the yakuza?" he asks.

"The Japanese criminal organization?" I ask, kind of knowing.

He nods. "Something like that. I was involved in some major encounters with them. When I was younger, I was indecisive. I worked for the police, tracked down some members of the yakuza. After...killing some of them, I felt bad. I switched sides. I worked for them for a little bit, and I gained their trust. After switching sides a few times, I left Japan."

"You _killed_ people?" I whisper-yell, horrified.

He sighs. "It was a dark time. I was young and indecisive. I regret those decisions to this day."

"Wait..." I interrupt. "If you're seventeen, and you've worked in America for a few years, and before that you were in Russia...how old were you then?"

He smiles. "I'm not actually seventeen. Although I look young for my age, I'm actually twenty-six."

"Twenty-six!" I exclaim, partially disgusted and partially shocked. "But...but I'm only seventeen! I thought you were my age!"

He puts a hand on my shoulder. "It's okay if you don't feel the same way about me anymore."

It takes me a minute to figure out what he means: he thinks I like him, and he's telling me that it's okay if the age difference is a problem.

I shake my head, going along with my story. "No, I was just...surprised. I still...like you, I guess. I guess everything about you is surprising now."

He smiles. "Everyone has their surprises. Why don't you tell me something about you that I don't know?"

"Me?" I reply. "Uh...I'm a straight-A student?"

"Thought so!" he laughs. "But that's interesting. Want to know something else about me? I'm still in contact with the boss of my former yakuza organization. He ordered me to keep in touch with him, to tell him everything that's going on in America."

 _So that's the mysterious Japanese guy he was emailing,_ I think.

"Do you actually tell him everything?" I ask.

He nods. "He would find out if I didn't. He also has a lot of criminal plans that he wants me to carry out here in America. I don't want to, so I'm going to have to find a way to get around those orders."

"But you wouldn't commit a serious crime, not now at least, would you?" I ask, worried.

"Of course not. Hiro is just very demanding and knowing." he replies.

"Is that his name? Hiro?" I ask.

"Hiro Takoyaki. His sister, Koko, is his second-in-command." he replies.

Before I can say anything, my phone begins to buzz frantically.

"What's that buzzing?" Gavin asks.

"It's my phone," I reply, looking at it. "Sorry, I think my dad is asking me to go home. He wants me to sleep at least a little tonight. I have a test tomorrow."

"Okay, I'll see you later!" he says as I get up from my chair.

"Bye!" I reply, before running down the street out of his sight.

It wasn't my dad texting me, it was Dez. The texts went:

 _GET OUT OF THERE_

 _ALLY_

 _GET OUT OF THERE_

 _COME BACK TO SONIC BOOM IMMEDIATELY_

 _GET OUT OF THERE_

I decide to text him back:

 _What's wrong? I'm two blocks away from his house now_

 _Hiro Takoyaki_

 _What about him?_

 _He's wanted by 66 international police forces_

 _WHAT?_

 _We're investigating now_

What on earth is going on? And what kind of danger have I put us in now?

* * *

 **Author's note: And there's the fifth chapter! It didn't take that long but the next one probably won't be up for a while:( I hope you liked it though!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note: Sorry again for the slow update. I finished tons of exams, three end-of-year projects, and two presentations! Hopefully, I can update more now (but I'm also really busy this summer). On with the story!**

* * *

 **Austin's POV**

"You're still going to pretend you like him?" I ask incredulously.

Ally and I are in the practice room taking a short break from songwriting. She decided to tell me all about what she heard from Gavin last night.

"Well, there's no other way that we can get him to keep telling us stuff! Dez and Trish have already confirmed that this Hiro Takoyaki is super dangerous. Who knows what he wants Gavin, rather, Kenji, to do? And you could be in trouble!" she replies.

"Well, I don't know if it's going to work." I say stubbornly.

She frowns for a moment but then her jaw drops. "Don't tell me you're jealous!"

"No!" I exclaim defensively. "He's, like, 26! And you obviously don't _actually_ like him."

She giggles. "Uh-huh. You're jealous."

I blush, immediately hating myself. There's no reason to be jealous of a 26-year-old insane ninja/martial artist/killer/personal bodyguard, but somehow I just am. Ally makes me feel things I don't understand.

"It's okay," she laughs, "if I were you I'd be jealous too. But seriously, Gavin is creepy. Rather, his past is creepy."

I nod my agreement. "Hey, we should email Sergei!" I remember.

"Great idea!" she exclaims, pulling out her computer.

 _To: Sergei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky_

 _From: Austin Moon_

 _Hi General Bolkonsky,_

 _Yesterday we did some investigating and we found out a lot of interesting things from Gavin Young, rather, Kenji Young's past. Before he went to Russia, he was a part of the Japanese yakuza, a large criminal organization. He worked for them, and the police, and switched back and forth. We also learned that he served yakuza leader Hiro Takoyaki. He is a very dangerous man, perhaps you have heard of him. Furthermore, Hiro has many criminal plans for Kenji to carry out here in America. We do not know what these plans are, only that they are very dangerous and very illegal. Please, if you have any information for us, we would appreciate knowing._

 _Sincerely,  
Austin Moon's team_

We send the email. Hopefully, Sergei will be willing to help us out.

"Ally, do you think we'll be able to get ourselves out of this mess?" I ask worriedly.

"I hope so." she replies grimly. "And if something goes wrong, we just have to hope that Sergei has our backs, even if he's on the other side of the world."

Her computer lights up, as if on cue, to signal that Sergei has replied.

 _To: Austin Moon_

 _From: Sergei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky_

 _Hi Austin,_

 _Call me Sergei. I am more than happy to help you out, especially with a problem like Gavin. Or should I say Kenji. All of this information is very new to me, but not very surprising. I did not know Gavin for very long, but my instinct told me that he was shadier than he seemed. My instinct has often proved right. I have heard of Hiro Takoyaki. We have been involved in some encounters with his men. Hiro is a dangerous man, and Gavin is just the right person to be his sidekick on the other side of the world. I will do some investigating, as long as you keep me updated._

 _Sincerely,  
Sergei_

"What are we going to do?" I say in despair. "Why did we get ourselves into this? We should just fire Gavin!"

Ally shakes her head. "That seems like the easy way out for us, but someone else is going to get in trouble. What are these plans that Hiro has in mind? If we let go of Gavin, he's just out in the open and ready to do whatever Hiro wants him to do. At least as your bodyguard, he can't do anything too suspicious."

"Fine," I sigh, still not completely sure of this plan.

"I know this might seem like we're in a bit of trouble," she tells me, "but if you think about it, Gavin can't hurt any of us. If Hiro finds out, if the police find out, which they would...Gavin wouldn't do something _that_ stupid. He's not reckless, we know that."

"Not true," I counter, "he beat up some fan who got sent to the hospital! That's not reckless?"

"Well, he wouldn't hurt any of us." she replies sadly. "And your poor fan _was_ released from the hospital in a few days. I think Gavin has done, and can do, a lot worse. But he wouldn't dare hurt any of us. Can you imagine? 'Austin Moon beaten up by bodyguard, sent to the hospital with critical injuries.' I don't think Gavin can afford that."

"But what about my fans? He might still injure them!" I exclaim.

"He seems to have stopped that pattern," she reminds me, "I think it's safe to say that with Sergei reprimanding him and Hiro probably threatening him, he wouldn't do it again."

"If only we could get in contact with Hiro..." I murmur.

"Are you crazy?" she exclaims. "He's a bad guy! Worse than Gavin! Kenji! Why would we want to talk to him?"

"What's going on?" Trish yells, barging into the practice room with Dez behind her. "We heard yelling. Austin, what are you yelling about?"

"It wasn't me, it was Ally!" I exclaim.

"We got another email from Sergei!" she interjects, stopping the imminent argument. "He's definitely on our side now, he wants to help us investigate. And he probably has a lot of power to investigate."

"We don't know what Hiro wants Kenji to do, but we have to stop him before it's too late." I add.

"I did a bunch of investigating!" Dez says. "After researching online, hacking into Japanese criminal group chats, talking to Jimmy and his colleagues, and looking through resumes-"

"Hold on," Trish interrupts. " _You_ did all of this?"

"Yes!" he exclaims impatiently. "Now what I was going to say is that one of Jimmy's business friends, this guy named John Kong, is actually a former yakuza member who worked for Hiro and worked with Kenji!"

" _John Kong?_ " I exclaim. "I know that guy! I always thought he had a funny name. I guess it makes sense that he tried to disguise his name."

"Who's John?" Ally asks.

"Oh! John is this guy who's always helping Jimmy out. He does boring business stuff, like organizing files and stuff." I reply.

"Okay, what's he like?" Trish asks.

I shrug. "Just another boring business guy. Doesn't talk much, but if you talk to him, he'll have a conversation with you. He's a nice guy, really. He doesn't seem like the criminal type."

"Well, maybe that's why he quit the yakuza and came to America." Ally suggests. "It wasn't for him."

"Wait!" Trish interrupts. "Dez, how do you know all of this stuff?"

"I told you," he replies, "I just did some research, and hacked into some yakuza group chats online, oh, and I emailed the Japanese police, and I talked to Jimmy and some of his friends, and I looked through a bunch of resumes!"

We all stare at him. In the span of one night, he did all of this? It might seem unrealistic, but I know that although Dez sometimes seems dumb, he's really smart and efficient. He's definitely good at investigating!

"Wait, so why is John important in this situation?" I ask, breaking the silence.

"He has a connection to Kenji," Ally says, "so he might be involved in this whole thing with Hiro."

"But John's such a nice guy!" I exclaim. "I couldn't see him being a criminal."

"Maybe he's not, then." she replies. "He's still important in this investigation, though."

"Guys, why don't we do some investigating today?" Dez suggests. "I mean, it's Saturday, so no school, and offices are still open! We can talk to Jimmy, we can even talk to John, and we can email Sergei."

"Okay," Ally and I say in unison.

"I have to go to _work_ ," Trish complains. "Eh, whatever! I'd probably get fired anyways. Might as well skip a day. Just like I skipped yesterday...and the day before."

We all laugh. It's a miracle anyone hires Trish!

"I can go talk to Jimmy and John," I volunteer. "I can just tell Jimmy that we need to talk about concerts and recording and stuff, and I can do some investigating while I'm at it."

"Great idea!" Ally exclaims. "I can stay here and email Sergei, if that's okay."

"That would be great!" Dez replies. "I'll do more investigating online. Trish, you can talk to Gavin! Kenji! Whatever..."

"Wouldn't that be dangerous? Or suspicious?" she exclaims.

"Not really," Dez replies, "as Austin's manager, you should be talking to his bodyguard. Just talk about tours or whatever. And casually ask questions."

"Fine," she huffs, "I hate working!"

* * *

Ten minutes later, I'm in Jimmy's office. He wasn't really expecting me, since we didn't plan a meeting, but he was available.

"Austin, what did you want to talk about?" he asks.

"Well, I was just wondering if we should start planning more concerts or even a tour." I say.

"We already have concerts booked for the next five months," Jimmy replies, "but we can start thinking about a tour after that."

"Um, what about songs?" I say, trying to think of something kind of relevant.

"What about songs?" he replies. "I don't know what's going on, Austin. What did you need?"

I pause for a moment and notice John in the corner of the room organizing CDs on a shelf. He's always organizing Jimmy's stuff, now that I think about it.

"Well...um, do you have that file folder of songs?" I finally say.

"Yes," he says, raising an eyebrow skeptically. "Why do you need it?"

"I, um, lost my copy of 'Timeless' and you have the only copy." I improvise. "I was wondering if you could get it for me?"

"It's in another room." he replies. "I can get it. Stay here, and I'll be right back."

"Okay," I say, watching him leave the room.

As soon as he leaves, I start to talk to John.

"Hey, John!" I say, and he turns around. "I didn't know you worked on Saturdays!"

He smiles. "Well, Jimmy needed my help. He's inviting in a lot of musical prospects this afternoon, so he wants me to get everything ready. He's actually really busy today."

"Oh! So you're kind of his assistant?" I ask, realizing that I never knew.

"Kind of!" he laughs. "I'm technically just his finance person, but since he's pretty good at that stuff, too, I just help him out."

"When did Jimmy hire you? I remember when I first signed with him, you weren't around." I say, trying to dig a little deeper.

"I think it was about a year ago," he replies easily. "I needed a job, and I was good with math and stuff, so I applied. And here I am!"

The more I talk to him, the more I realize that he's a really nice guy. There's no way he's a criminal. He must have left Japan because he realized that he was in the wrong place.

"Are you from Miami?" I ask, knowing the answer.

He shakes his head slowly. "I'm from Japan. I moved here a while ago."

I nod. "When you were a kid?"

"No, when I was probably in my early twenties." he replies, more cautiously now. "I was young and wanted to get away from my parents. So I moved here."

His parents? Was that a lie? Or was it true? I'm about to ask something else, but the door opens and Jimmy walks in.

"Here's your music, Austin. I photocopied it for you."

"Thanks," I reply, watching John walk out the door.

 _There's more to this guy that he lets on,_ I think. _Something's not right._

* * *

 **Author's note: I hope you liked it! Sorry again for the slow update. I'll try to write some more these few days but I won't have much time in the summer either. I'm just all-around really busy. By the way, John Kong is totally fictional. More on him in later chapters:)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's note: sorry for the very slow update. I kind of had writer's block for a while, and then I was really busy, but I'm finally back with a new chapter!**

* * *

 **Ally's POV**

We're in the practice room. Again. Discussing Kenji Young. Again. Austin just told us all about his encounter with John in Jimmy's office. We all agree that he seems a bit suspicious, but he's probably not dangerous. I emailed Sergei a few more times, and we shared more information about Kenji. So far, though, there's not much that we haven't figured out that Sergei knows.

"Ally, what are we going to do?" Austin says. Again.

I don't know what to say but my computer alerts me that I have a new email. I open it up hurriedly and see that it's from Sergei.

 _To: Austin Moon_

 _From: Sergei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky_

 _Hi Austin and Ally,_

 _Hiro Takoyaki is on his way to Miami. I do not know why, but the Russian military is keeping a close eye on him. It may be a coincidence, but Hiro has never left Japan in years. I urge you to stay safe and stay away from Kenji for a while._

 _Sergei_

"Hiro is coming to town?" Austin says, concerned. "This isn't good! There's no way this is just a pleasure trip. He's coming because of Kenji."

"You don't know that for sure," I say, "but it probably is. We have to be careful, but I don't think we can stay away."

"But why not?" he asks. "I mean, just let him take Kenji back to Japan with him! Then we'll be fine, and life will be good!"

"If that happens, we'll be fine. But do you really think Hiro is just chaperoning Kenji back to Japan? That doesn't make any sense." I object.

"I guess you're right." he says.

"Oh! What about John? Does he have anything to do with this?" I ask, realizing.

"Who knows? I don't think so...he seemed a bit suspicious but I still don't think he's part of this." Austin replies.

"But he's a former yakuza member," I point out, "so he has something to do with this. What's the probability that two people you're closely associated with both worked for the guy who's coming into town? Not likely."

"Guys!" Dez runs in with Trish behind him. "Hiro is coming to Miami. His flight lands in an hour at the airport! This is a problem!"

"Yeah, we know." Austin replies. "But how did you know? Never mind. I don't want to know. But what are we going to do?"

"And Kenji's mysteriously disappeared!" Trish adds. "Usually, he's always at the martial arts place! He's not there, and no one knows where he is!"

"He probably went to the airport to meet Hiro there when he arrives." I deduce. "But Kenji told me that he doesn't want to work for Hiro anymore! What if a conflict arises?"

"He could've been lying to you," Austin suggests, "after all, he thought you were head-over-heels in love with him. He's not a good guy! He might not tell the truth!"

"Okay, no need to get jealous." Trish says, laughing. "But it's a good point, he could still be working for Hiro."

"Hmm..." Dez mumbles, looking at his phone.

"What is it?" Austin asks.

"Well, John is apparently at the airport right now, no more than three feet away from Kenji." he says offhandedly.

"How do you know this?" I ask, immediately alert.

"Oh, I put trackers on them this morning." he replies. "They're hooked up to my phone, so I can see where they are."

"Seriously? So we can just go to the airport right now and find them?" Trish asks.

"Yeah, I guess." Dez replies.

* * *

Half an hour later, we're at the airport. John and Kenji are at baggage claim, so we decide to spy on them from a farther away baggage claim area. We can see them, but they can't see us unless they look for us.

"So Hiro's flight lands in ten minutes?" I ask.

"Yeah, they should announce it when it arrives." Dez replies.

I look over at John and Kenji. They're not really talking to each other, but they're standing together. They're definitely waiting for Hiro to arrive.

"So, what does Hiro look like?" Austin asks.

"I don't know," Dez admits, "but we'll probably notice if some creepy guy walks up to John and Kenji and starts talking to them. Keep an eye out for a creepy guy who looks like he could be named Hiro."

I roll my eyes but still look out for any "creepy guy who looks like he could be named Hiro".

"Guys! John and Kenji are talking!" Austin exclaims.

We all look over, but we can't tell what they're saying because of the volume in the airport. Miami doesn't have the biggest airport in the world, but it's still loud. Amid all the chatter, I hear a loudspeaker announcement in the distance.

"Flight 985 from Tokyo has landed."

I see Kenji and John perk up at the announcement and become more alert.

"Guys! Hiro's flight landed! Just now!" I say to my friends.

"I wonder how he even got security clearance..." Austin says. "Surely Japan and America both have strict security restrictions against him traveling!"

"Criminals, especially clever ones like Hiro, have their ways." Dez says.

I pull out my phone to type a quick email to Sergei telling him that Hiro's plane has landed. Might as well keep him updated.

"Look!" Dez calls, pointing into the crowd. "Is that Hiro?"

"Where?" Austin asks, looking around.

I jump up and down but I can't see anything because I'm so short!

"Over there! That guy! He's tall, has black hair..." Dez says.

"There!" Austin exclaims.

"Where?" I ask, still jumping around.

Instead of replying, he picks me up around the waist and lifts me up. I shriek a little but he holds me up so that I can see a bit better. I see a tall guy with black hair, but he walks away from baggage claim and doesn't even look over at Kenji and John. They're still standing there, looking around.

"Nope, that wasn't Hiro." Dez says.

All of a sudden, Kenji looks over in our direction and squints, looking. It barely takes me a second to realize that he's looking at me.

"Austin! Down!" I exclaim.

He puts me down on the ground. "What is it?"

"Kenji was looking over at me!" I exclaim.

"Did he see you?" Trish asks.

"I don't think so, but he was definitely trying to see if he recognized me." I reply. "We have to be careful so that he doesn't look back again."

"Guys! Is that Hiro?" Dez exclaims, pointing at another man in the crowd.

"I don't know, let's watch." I say.

We all watch the tall, sunglasses-wearing man in the crowd. He walks slowly and inconspicuously, and it would've been easy for Dez to miss him. The man walks over to the baggage claim area where Kenji and John are, but they don't see him. We watch as the man picks up a large black suitcase from baggage claim, walking over towards Kenji and John.

"That must be Hiro!" Trish exclaims.

Sure enough, the man walk over to Kenji and starts talking to him. John stands behind Kenji and shifts uncomfortably.

"I wonder what they're talking about." Austin says.

"I can go closer to eavesdrop," I suggest.

"No way!" he exclaims. "Hiro's a dangerous guy! You are _not_ going to spy on him."

"Austin, you don't have to protect me." I tell him. "I'll be careful, I promise! And with airport security and everything, I'm not in any danger. Besides, they won't even see me!"

Before he can object, I run out into the crowd, careful not to get lost or seen. I settle on hiding behind a chair several feet away from Kenji, John, and Hiro. I can barely hear them, but it's better than nothing.

"I haven't seen you two in so long!" Hiro says. "Especially you, Kong! You should never have left Japan. Kenji, you must come back home soon."

It takes me a minute to realize that Kong is John.

"I will definitely go back home soon, boss." Kenji says. "I need to find a good time, though. You know I need money, and Austin Moon pays very well."

"Hiro, how do you know Kenji?" John asks.

"Kong, you had already left home and settled here in America when I found Kenji." Hiro explains. "He was only a small child when I found him. It was during that storm all those years ago. Do you remember? The winds were blowing and it was raining incredibly hard. Our men were seeking shelter when I found young Kenji bruised and battered outside. I am not usually very empathetic, but I could see that he had potential. Such a young child, but he survived this terrible storm. Barely. That's when I realized that we should take him in. Of course, I had no use for a child, but I knew that in the future, when he grew up, he would be of great use."

"I suppose you were right." John says, a little bitterly.

Why would John be bitter? Does he have something against Hiro? Probably, since he left Japan and then acted all uncomfortable when he arrived today.

"Of course." Hiro says. "Kenji is one of my most trusted and loyal. And you, Kong, are also a force to be reckoned with. Don't pretend you left your old life by coming to America. No matter what you do to get rid of your old self, someone from your past will come back for you. So be prepared."

John looks a little scared. What does Hiro mean? It seems like he knows that someone is after John, but who and why?

"Boss, what are you talking about?" Kenji interrupts. "Why would anyone be out to get Kong? I don't know him very well, but he seems very nice."

Hiro sighs. "Kenji, you are still young. Kong was one of our best criminal minds back when he still worked for me. By leaving Japan, he was not saving himself from our world. Many of our men back home are still angry about his leaving. Kong, everyone thinks you have betrayed us."

"But why would you leave Japan?" Kenji asks John. "Weren't you happy?"

"No," he replies sharply. "I was not happy. I don't particularly like violence, and although rewarding, my experience with Hiro and his men was also exhausting. I wanted to work in a more legitimate and trustworthy workforce."

I hold my breath. Will Hiro get mad? After all, John just insulted him to his face. Instead, though, Hiro laughs.

"Kong, I suppose that is your belief and no one can change that. I respect your brainpower and I respect your decisions, even if I do not agree with you. In the end, though, you're not to important to me. You're simply a former colleague who ran away."

"Hiro, I have to go." John interrupts. "I need to meet with Jimmy Starr. In case you didn't know, he's my business partner."

With that, John walks away, but Kenji and Hiro remain. As soon as John is out of sight, Hiro whispers to Kenji. I have to sneak closer to them to hear what he says, but I can still barely hear him.

"Kenji, can you do me a favor?"

"Sure, boss, what is it?" Kenji asks.

"Kong is no longer one of us. He is now one of them. The enemy. Potentially dangerous, as well. He knows all about me and about us. No matter how innocent he seems, he cannot be trusted. I must return to Japan in a few days. However, I will entrust you to eliminate him before he finds out too much."

* * *

 **Author's note: thanks for reading! Sorry again for the slow update, I'll try to write more soon but I really can't say how long it will take :/**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's note: here is the next chapter! It's a bit shorter than the other ones but it's probably the second- or third-last chapter so thank you again to Sparda4 for everything, and thanks to everyone reading this.**

* * *

 **Austin's POV**

"He wants to _kill_ John?" I ask, appalled. "But why? Just because he left Japan for America?"

We're back in Sonic Boom and it's getting dark outside, but so is this whole situation. Dark, I mean.

"I don't know," Ally replies, "Hiro says that John's part of the enemy and he can't be trusted. In any case, Kenji's in charge of it all."

"We've got to fire him!" I exclaim.

"Yeah, it's getting too dangerous." Trish agrees.

"No!" Dez exclaims. "We have to continue investigating! If we fire Kenji, that's tipping him off! We can't do that! Hiro would get _really_ mad."

"So we keep putting ourselves, John, and everyone who works for Jimmy in danger?" I counter. "We can't do that!"

"Guys, what if Kenji says no? What if he doesn't even try to kill John?" Ally interrupts. "What if he doesn't _want_ to go around killing people for Hiro?"

"Ally, I know he told you he wouldn't kill anyone, but he was definitely lying." I tell her. "He just didn't want to scare you away."

Trish rolls her eyes, muttering something about jealousy. "I think we should turn Hiro into the police." she says.

"That's a great idea!" I say.

"So how would we do that?" Dez asks. "Sure, Hiro's wanted in 66 countries, but that doesn't mean the police will believe us when we say he's in the country. They'll think we're lying! We have to get evidence first!"

"Evidence of what?" I ask.

"Evidence that he's trying to kill John! And that he's actually himself! So we can turn him in!" he replies.

"Okay, how are we going to do that?" I ask.

"We're going on a spy mission."

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Ally leads us to Kenji's house. It's a pretty big house for one person, but his job also obviously pays well. Not his job as my bodyguard, his job as Hiro's sidekick. But also his job as my bodyguard.

"Why did we come here again?" I whisper.

"Because Hiro is probably staying here for the night and the next few days." Dez whispers back. "If we can hear them talking, then we can record it."

"Shhh..." Ally hisses. "They're talking."

We creep into the bushes, trying to hear, and Dez starts to record their conversation through his advanced audio recorder. It's a lot better at picking up sound than a regular phone or something.

"Kenji, you know this is my last job for you." Hiro says. "I still haven't told anyone you want to stay in America. No doubt they will be upset, but at least you're not exactly everyone's favorite."

Kenji nods. "Sorry again, boss. I'll make sure to visit often, and my home will always be in Japan. But you know that I can't afford to live there. It's too dangerous."

"I support your decision fully." Hiro reassures him. "But you know this is a hard mission, but it must be done. Kong is too dangerous, and he knows too much about us. He could reveal all of us to the authorities, then we're all in trouble. I hope you can do this. Can I trust you?"

"Of course you can," Kenji replies. "You saved my life, multiple times, and this is the least I can do to repay you."

"Thank you, Kenji." Hiro says.

"But you'll be in town for a few more days to help me plan for this, right?" Kenji asks. "I don't really know how to carry this all out."

He sighs. "I'm sorry, Kenji, but I'm leaving in a few minutes. I had to come talk to you in person, but my plane leaves for Japan in an hour. I can't afford to tip anyone off, so I have to leave immediately."

"Oh," Kenji says, looking a little sad. "Then I will fly over to see you as soon as John- sorry, Kong, is dead."

"Thank you, Kenji, for doing this." Hiro says. "I know you are simply repaying me, but I understand that this is big for you. You've never been in charge of a mission like this, but I know you can do it without hesitation."

"Boss?" Kenji says hesitantly.

"Yes?"

"I know this seems silly...but you know how everyone says it's wrong to kill people? I know that Kong is dangerous and could potentially be a threat to all of us, but is it wrong to kill him?" he asks.

Instead of laughing or something, Hiro replies very seriously. "It's simple, Kenji. It is wrong to take a life without any motive or reason. But the world should always be in balance and nature must be respected. I saved your life. Without me, you would be dead. But now there is an extra life in the world. You are in charge of getting rid of that extra life and maintaining balance in our world. Death is a natural part of life, and everyone will eventually die. Kong will simply die earlier than expected."

Then he says one more thing. It's in Japanese, and he says it straight to Kenji. Then he walks out the door.

* * *

 _To: Austin Moon_

 _From: Sergei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky_

 _We have alerted all international police. Hiro will not be leaving America tonight. Please send your recordings to the Miami police. Hiro Takoyaki will finally be caught._

* * *

 **Author's note: thanks for reading! Only one or two more chapters to go, sorry if it takes a while to update.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's note: here is the last chapter! Thanks again to Sparda4 for everything especially this ending (sorry if it isn't exactly how you want it), and thanks to everyone if you're still reading. On with the story!**

* * *

 **Austin's POV**

It's too late. It's been a week since we were at Kenji's house. He didn't kill John, but Hiro probably did. After Hiro left his house, we followed him all the way to the airport. But instead of leaving for Japan, he simply stayed in the hotel airport. At first, we were confused. We spent a day investigating his presence. We were distracted for 24 hours, and that was enough for Kenji. He kidnapped John, then he called Hiro. Instead of killing John himself, Kenji handed John over to his boss, who drove away in a truck.

We called the police immediately when we found out all of this, but they still haven't found Hiro. I don't think they will. But Kenji is still somewhere here in Miami. We also fired him, which he took rather nicely, but now we don't know where he is. Jimmy is also questioning the disappearance of his assistant.

"Austin, I know we're all disappointed." Ally says, walking into the practice room where I'm sitting.

"I just can't believe we failed." I say. "Life isn't a fairytale, and this time it wasn't a happy ending. But I can't believe they got John. We should never have hired Kenji."

"I know. I'm sorry, Austin." she says. "But there's still a chance that police will find him. After we turned in the recordings, the Florida police have alerted all national police forces, as well as the ones in Canada and Mexico. Sergei's guys are looking for Hiro, too."

"Ally, you and I both know that they're never going to catch him." I say.

"I know," she replies, "but I don't think we should lose hope just yet. Plus, they can still find Kenji. He should be easier to find. He hasn't been in his house recently, though. At least not that we know of."

"Guys, I figured something out." Dez says as he walks into the room. "John's not dead, at least not yet, and Hiro's driving around the country."

"How do you know that?" I ask.

"Well, remember that tracker I put on John? He still has it, and it has a heat sensor, too. It's detecting way too much heat for him to be dead yet, and it tracks that he's going around the country. I don't think he escaped from Hiro, so he's probably driving around the country."

"Wouldn't that make it easier for someone to find him, though?" Ally asks. "The national police are on the lookout for him."

"That's the thing," Dez replies, "they don't know where to look so by driving aimlessly it's more confusing. I think we need to show this to the police."

"Okay, I'll go with you." Ally says, and they walk out together.

I sigh and get up after they leave the room. It's not fair, how the bad guys have to win. Shouldn't the good guys win in the end? There's still hope, but I don't think the police will ever find Hiro. He's probably done this thousands of times before. The only thing we can do is find Kenji.

I walk downstairs and exit Sonic Boom. It's dark outside, it's nighttime, but I walk to the beach. Lately, I go there a lot to calm myself down, but it never works. Tonight, though, I decide to walk a little further along the coast. I walk all the way to the cliff on the far side, to the point where I can no longer see our beach. I wander a little bit, and to my surprise, I see Kenji.

"Kenji, how could you?" I exclaim.

"How could I what?" he asks.

"You kidnapped John and gave him to Hiro to kill! Killing's wrong! And the bad guys never win!" I exclaim. "I'm calling the police."

"Wait!" he exclaims. "Austin, let me explain. There's a reasonable explanation."

"Okay, you've got a minute, then I call the police." I tell him angrily.

"Look, Austin, for my whole life, I've worked for Hiro. My boss. And I served him loyally. I never didn't complete a mission, even if it seemed wrong to me. Believe me, there were times when I really didn't want to do something. Killing, especially. I know you don't believe me, but it's true. But I couldn't say no to Hiro. He trusted me, but I knew I would have to leave him eventually. So I moved to America, saying I was just learning independence and I would always serve him. In reality, I was getting away from him. But he kept coming back. He would stop contacting me, even if we were across the world from each other."

"So did you believe him when he said that John was not to be trusted?" I ask.

He shakes his head. "At first I didn't. I didn't tell him that, I acted like I didn't trust John, or Kong, whatever, but I didn't see anything wrong with him. To be honest, I empathized a lot with him. He wanted to get away from Hiro and Japan, so did I. We both moved to America for that purpose. I had to get away from Hiro, though. I didn't think there was any other choice than to obey him one last time."

"So you agreed to kill John just so that you could get away from Hiro? There's got to be a better way!" I exclaim.

"Okay, Austin." he says. "I understand. I'm not a good guy. I'm not like you, I'm not like Dez or Ally or Trish. But I'm not a psychopath. I knew I couldn't just kill John because Hiro asked me to. I had to find another way. But how? I decided to do some research. I know you don't believe me, but it's true. And then I realized that John only worked for Hiro for a month or so, then he bolted. He wasn't a high-ranked member or anything. In fact, not a single high-ranked member of the yakuza even know who he is. I didn't know, no one else knew."

"But Hiro said that everyone was mad at him! No one knew him?" I say, bewildered.

"No. Hiro lied to me as an excuse for me to go kill John." he replies.

"But what's the point? Why did Hiro want John dead?" I ask.

"John was Hiro's biggest enemy." he replies. "He worked for the Japanese police and came close to foiling Hiro's plans many times. But the rest of the police were suspicious about him spending so much time worrying about the yakuza. It was almost as if he was a part of them. So he was no longer trusted by the police. Or the criminals. So he went to America. He didn't know anyone so he could be trusted by anyone. When Hiro came, John had to pretend he wasn't his biggest enemy. But he was scared."

"Yeah, Ally noticed." I say. "But you were still going to kill him! Why? You know it's wrong!"

"Austin, you don't understand." he says. "John wasn't loyal to the police. He wasn't loyal to the yakuza. He was an independent spy in Japan trying to find out something wrong about both groups and expose them. He wanted to make everyone believe that the government was corrupted and the criminals were out to get them."

"But why?" I repeat. "He seemed like such a nice guy!"

"Of course he seemed nice, he had to get a job and seem normal. But he already had enough information to expose Hiro, the yakuza, and even the police. He came to America to carry out his plans in peace. So to me, he was a bad guy."

"But was he really? How do you know all of this? What if you're wrong?" I demand. "For all we know, an innocent man's just been killed by your boss!"

We stand in silence for a while until Kenji speaks again. "Austin, I know you were there the night when Hiro was at my house. You saw him leave, did you not? His leaving also meant that I may never speak to him again. And his last words to me were 'get to know yourself, get to know the world, and become strong'."

"Okay, so what? That doesn't help anything." I reply, irritated.

"The more I thought about his words, the more I realized how much I've changed since I started working for you. When I started, I was still Hiro's protégé, aggressive and impulsive. You saw that. But the more I worked for you, the more independent I became from Hiro and everyone else back home. I realized that although I will always be a part of them, I will never truly be exactly like them. Do you understand that?"

"Yeah," I reply, "like how I'm a high school kid but I'm never going to be a normal high school kid."

"Okay, kind of like that." he replies. "So my heart will never be good. But I can at least try. I've learned a lot from Hiro, but I've learned a lot from you, too. And now that I'm free from working for Hiro, I'm going to become independent. I don't know what I'll do, but I'll always be part Kenji, part Gavin. Kenji, the impulsive, aggressive, and often violent, and Gavin, the more logical and controlled."

Suddenly, his phone starts ringing. He picks it up. I hear a muffled voice on the other end, strangely familiar, but I don't know what it is. After a while of the voice on the other end, Kenji replies.

"I thought you didn't need me because of what happened with Hiro, but I'm on my way. Boss."

* * *

 **Author's note: if you got this far, thanks for reading and I hope you liked it! Thanks again so much to Sparda4 for this whole thing and I'm sorry if it didn't exactly go as you wanted it, but I hope it was okay.**


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